Anti-Virus Software Gone WrongSkywing
Anti-virus software is becoming more and more prevalent on end-user computers today. Many major computer vendors (such as Dell) bundle anti-virus software and other personal security suites in the default configuration of newly-sold computer systems. As a result, it is becoming increasingly important that anti-virus software be well-designed, secure by default, and interoperable with third-party applications. Software that is installed and running by default constitutes a prime target for attack and, as such, it is especially important that said software be designed with security and interoperability in mind. In particular, this article provides examples of issues found in well-known anti-virus products. These issues range from not properly validating input from an untrusted source (especially within the context of a kernel driver) to failing to conform to API contracts when hooking or implementing an intermediary between applications and the underlying APIs upon which they rely. For popular software, or software that is installed by default, errors of this sort can become a serious problem to both system stability and security. Beyond that, it can impact the ability of independent software vendors to deploy functioning software on end-user systems.